This is an awful situation. From what you’ve described - diabetes, kidney disease, uremia - it sounds like this cat may be getting under-treated. It’s possible the veterinarian already advised quite a few treatments that the owners refused, believing the cat was doing okay enough to do without. The diarrhea can be helped a lot with a different diet (at least all-wet food, at most a raw diet). There are also some medications I would expect to hear that the cat was on which I haven’t heard. It’s very possible there is a lot more that can be done for this cat, but they require much more time and attention than it sounds like the owners may be willing or able to give this animal. Unregulated diabetes can make this cat very sick very quickly. A dry food diet is the first thing that should go for a diabetic, but a canned or raw food diet can be more difficult for a busy family to pay attention to. Kidney disease is a slow, horrible death if not given all possible treatments, as soon and as aggressively as possible.
It sounds like if these folks can’t give this cat the medical attention it needs - and it does need some significant changes - humane euthanasia may be the best solution for all. The cat’s quality of life needs to be considered as well as the owner’s ability to take care of all the medical issues that can require more time and money than they may have.
Being single and working two jobs, if one of my cats was diagnosed with a disease that needed medication/medical attention of any sort that was more than once a day, I’d have to seriously consider euthanasia. Luckily I can handle any short-term illnesses because the cats could be hospitalized where I work, but any home treatment long-term could prove impossible. It all depends on the household and the balance of medical treatments vs family’s ability to deal. Sometimes euthanasia is really the most humane thing and the owner has to learn to let go and realize that a longer life is not always better.
It’s always a really tough decision. I feel for you as the sympathetic friend trying to give good advise, and I feel for your pal who is going through such a tough time.
I’m not a vet, but the cat is probably just as stressed by this situation as the people.
Kidney disease plus diabetes? I had a cat with that combination and, looking back, I feel that we pretty much tortured him by keeping him alive as long as we did. I sincerely regret it.
I’m a little baffled that a diabetic isn’t getting any treatment and a kidney patient is just getting a tad of wet food with dry. That doesn’t sound like a standard treatment plan for this combination of diseases, at least in my experience (two cats with kidney disease and one with diabetes as well).
I’m not a cat breeder, but I know one, and this sounds similar to something she mentioned.
I hate to ask, but is there any chance the new cat was litter-tray-guarding? Its one of the ways a new cat in a house may assert dominance - by making it difficult for the existing cat to use the litter tray, or disturbing them when they are. The only way she found to resolve it was to add another litter tray in another location so the new cat could not guard them all (e.g. the new cat was sitting on the stairs so the older cat could not get into the kitchen to the tray, so she added one upstairs).
I am not a vet but I agree that the cat is in a bad way healthwise and may be in great discomfort. I am told by small animal vet techs I know that diabetes has a very poor prognosis in cats even when treated aggressively – and this cat is apparently being treated not at all.
Some people disagree, but I’d rather put a beloved animal down a day/week/month/year too early than the same amount too late. Animals cannot find meaning in their suffering or rationalize their pain like people can; allowing them suffer to ease one’s own grief is selfish. I would doubt the OP’s friend is doing that on a conscious level but perhaps she is too close to see the situation clearly.
It’s done now, and I never want to think about it again. Now I have to figure out how to hold my tongue if her hubby starts talking about what a ‘blessing’ it was, or voicing his relief. Would someone please remind me that people are more important than pets?
[Lame Attempt at ‘Reminding’]Well, if it helps any, there’s the toxoplasmosis link that DDG posted. The patient I’ve seen got it when he was an adult (compromised immune system), but from that he has lesions in his brain, and poor vision due to permanently-damaged retinas.[/LAAR]
You sound like you have a soft spot for animals. I do, too. But I can assure you that if my beloved pet started routinely pissing or crapping in my house, with no hope of improving, then I would put him/her to sleep. Have you ever walked into a house with cats who didn’t use the litter box? It’s disgusting.
So feel bad for your friend who had to grieve for her kitty, but don’t hold grudges against the husband. He did the mature thing even though it was painful.
I agree with this 100%. If there isn’t really hope for recovery in an animal, how can you expect to keep it alive while it’s got uncontrollable diarrhea and maladies like that? That’s a horrible situation for the animal. Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing really are the same.
Plus with small children in the house, how can anyone put the animal above the health and safety of the children? Maybe the children won’t get toxioplasmosis, but ingesting cat feces is probably not the healthiest thing for a toddler to eat - and they put everything in their mouths.
When you bring children into the world you make a commitment to prioritize their health and safety over your pets.
Even with the best care (short of a kidney transplant, which is not practical for most pet owners), elderly cats with kidney disease generally just get sicker and sicker until they eventually have to be euthanized to end the suffering, so I really don’t think there was any other choice in this situation, as sad as it is. I don’t think the husband was trying to be cold-hearted, just trying to make the least-bad choice in a bad situation. Sometimes the kindest thing we can do for our pets is say goodbye to them in a humane way.
Still, I’m sorry for your friend’s sadness.
